Allocene reptiles
The stingray turtle is a medium-sized sea turtle living in the Caribbean sea and southeastern coast of North America that imitates the shape and colour pattern of highly dangerous stingrays in order to avoid being preyed on by marine crocodilians, thalassovaranoids and sharks. It belongs to a new group of sea turtles which descended from emydid turtles. * The monkey iguana or skull-faced iguana Dendroguana spectralis is a medium-sized arboreal iguanid found in northern South America. This species of iguana, which descends from the green iguana Iguana iguana, has developed multiple adaptations for arboreal life. The body is short and compact, legs are long and powerful, allowing the animal to execute long jumps from one tree to another, fingers are grasping and possess big claws, and tail is half prehensile. Monkey iguana´s head is short and broad, slightly recalling the modern Galapagos´ sea iguana. This iguana possesses a brain capacity unusually big for a reptile, which is expressed in its high intelligence and social habits. The big, yellow-coloured eyes are almost stereoscopical. One of the most remarkable features from this creature are the nape spines. These spines form a high crest above the head and can be raised and lowered, expressing mood. The name "skull-faced iguana" reflects the special coloration of the head: white with dark spots around the eyes and the edges of the mouth. Body coloration goes from bottle green to dark dun-green with bright strips scattering through the sides. Due to the highly warm climate of the zone which inhabits, this active reptile has developed an adaptation in order to avoid overheating. The skin plica in its throat is rather elastic and contains a broad network of blood vessels and, though it is retracted most of the times, it can be irrigated with blood and be expanded up to 4 times its original size. Sometimes these animals can be seen resting with their protracted dewlap, having lifted their chest and having twisted their heads upwards. The dewlap, colored in bright red, is also an important element during intraspecific encounters, specially at the courtship rituals. These creatures are unusually intelligent for a reptile and, despite being mostly solitary animals, they sometimes gather in groups of 4-5 individuals and during courtship season they show complex intraspecific behaviour. The diet of the monkey iguana includes fruits, flowers, leaves and insects. This reptile, unlike its ancestors, lays the eggs in the tree canopy, usually in concealed places like hollow trunks. * The pelican crocodile ''Pelecanostoma sp'' 'is a species of alligatoroid found in the rivers, lakes and mangroves of southern and eastern Asia. The pelican crocodile is ecologically convergent to modern gharials and false gharials, and it possesses an elongate and broad snout and a flexible throat pouch. It feeds mainly on fishes and crustaceans but it can also prey of birds and small mammals. * ''A duck-billed monitor lizard about to catch an unfortunate crabshrimp, northern Australia, 35 million years in the future The '''duck-billed monitor lizard Carcinovaranus anatorostrum is a small semi-aquatic varanid found in the mangrove areas of northern Australia, feeding mainly on crustaceans and molluscs. This species is remarkable for its slender constitution and long limbs, but particularly for its unusual snout. Wide, flat and fleshy, the snout of this creature looks pretty similar to the notosuchian crocodylomorph Anatosuchus. This "duckbill-like" snout is rather mobile due to gristly reinforcements at the edges of it. It acts as a sensitive organ when the animal searches for crustaceans and molluscs at the bottom , and as a useful shovel when these are lying beneath the mud. The most outstanding adaptation of this species of monitor lizard are the teeth: they kept the hooked shape of monitor lizards´ teeth, but they are thicker, rounder and blunt. The duck-billed monitor lizard lays its eggs in high mounds built and protected by the female. Usually these mounds are the home of many small creatures. * The northern eared eurogator ''Leptochampsa borealia ''is a rather small (2 m of length) alligatoroid found in the swamps and marshes of northern Asia. = by electreel = Category:Animals Category:Reptiles Category:The Allocene